Hi-Points have been traced to some of the area's worst crimes: the slaying of Cleveland vice Detective Robert Clark in 1998 and the shooting of Akron police officer David Gibson in 2004.

"They'll never make Consumer Reports for the best guns, but they're really popular with criminals," said Gerald Nunziato, a retired agent with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

As homicides rise in Cleveland and as state legislators consider banning guns for anyone under 21, Hi-Points represent the focal point in one of the most sensitive issues surrounding guns:

• The gun company's owner, Thomas Deeb, says he caters to the blue-collar family. He said the guns offer protection for a low price, a service to the working poor as well as hobbyists who enjoy different brands.

• But many times, the guns end up in the hands of teenagers itching to prove themselves.

"We're in a crisis," said Cleveland 1st Ward Councilwoman Nina Turner. "I can't believe how easy it is for kids to get guns and how no one can stop this."

In Cleveland, Hi-Point pistols lead the way. Police seized 92 of them through last week, far more than any other of the 1,150 guns used in crimes, said police Sgt. Nate Willson.

"It's cheap, it's a semiautomatic, and it's big," said A. Steven Dever, the chief trial counsel for the Cuyahoga County prosecutor's office.

Last year, New York City police seized 310 Hi-Point 9 mm guns used in crimes -- the most in the city, authorities said. Overall, officers there grabbed more than 7,000 crime guns.

While Hi-Points appear to be popular with young criminals, there is debate whether they are popular with gun enthusiasts. Some call them cheap weapons that often jam.

Deeb, the company's owner, has been making Hi-Point guns since 1988 at his 33-worker Mansfield company, Beemiller Inc. He said his are some of the best, most popular guns in the world, which is why he can offer a lifetime warranty.

"You can't do that with a gun that doesn't work well," he said.

James Hamby, a 37-year firearms examiner from Indianapolis, said the Hi-Point "can do just the same as a $1,000 Sig Sauer," an elite weapon. "I drive a Ford. It's not a Lexus, but it gets me from point A to point B." Hamby owns a few Hi-Points.

Hamby said some of the jamming problems stem from people unfamiliar with guns. On Internet gun forums featuring Hi-Points, many gun enthusiasts say they are the best guns they've ever fired.

Others disagree, noting that the guns are hard to take apart for cleaning, resulting in them going uncleaned for so long that they jam.

"It's not that it is a bad gun; it's just not the quality of firearms that I would want to sell," said Diane Donnett, the owner of Stonewall Gunshop and Pistol Range in Broadview Heights, which doesn't sell Hi-Points.

"They're just not dependable," she said. "You have a 50-50 chance of being able to fire a second shot because it could jam."

Others dislike the craftsmanship.

Liability appears to be the company's biggest problem.

In Buffalo, N.Y., a family of a high school basketball star sued Hi-Point and its distributor, MKS Supply Inc. of Dayton. The youth, Daniel Williams, was playing basketball when a gang member misidentified him and shot him in the stomach.

The lawsuit calls Hi-Point weapons "cheap, low-quality, easily concealable guns that are disproportionately used by criminals and widely recognized as having little or no legitimate value or utility."

Last year, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg sued 27 gun dealers for selling guns that ended up in crimes in his city. In court documents, the city called Hi-Point's 9 mm "a cheap, poorly made gun favored by criminals." The lawsuits are pending.

But gun-rights advocates say the gun isn't the issue; it's the people who get their hands on it illegally through poor sales.

For instance, the Hi-Point 9 mm that was used to kill Cleveland Detective Clark was obtained when a man misled a gun dealer about his criminal past. The man who shot Akron police officer Gibson had a mental disability.

Gun advocates scoff at the pressure the company faces, saying it is part of a never-ending push to curb Second Amendment rights.

In Cleveland and every other major city, officials are looking at what can be done to prevent other shootings. Dever, the assistant Cuyahoga County prosecutor who has handled major crime for years, offered another suggestion: Before a gun leaves the factory, the gun should be fired.

The bullet and shell casing would then be entered into a national ballistics database, making it easier for the gun to be traced, Dever said. Currently, only the weapon's basic information is used in tracing.

"The problem is when the gun reaches the underworld, the identity of the owner remains anonymous," Dever said.

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